Paris condemns long sentences on spy charges for French couple in Iran
France on Thursday condemned stiff prison sentences handed down to two of its citizens in Iran earlier this week, calling the charges unfounded and their detention arbitrary.
France on Thursday condemned stiff prison sentences handed down to two of its citizens in Iran earlier this week, calling the charges unfounded and their detention arbitrary.
Cécile Kohler and her partner Jacques Paris, detained since 2022, are among several foreign and dual nationals held in Iran in recent years and accused of spying.
"I would like to spare a special thought for our compatriots Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who have been detained for more than three years in Iran," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux told reporters on Thursday.
"Both were arbitrarily sentenced just the day before yesterday to very long prison terms. The charges against them, whatever they may be, are completely unfounded. We call for their immediate release," he added.
Confavreux’s remarks came after Iran’s judiciary-affiliated Mizan news agency, said on Tuesday that two French nationals described as intelligence operatives were convicted of espionage, collusion and aiding Israeli intelligence.
One received a combined 31-year sentence and the other 32 years.
Iranian authorities did not name the two, but the descriptions appeared to match Kohler and Paris, a French teacher and her partner detained in May 2022 and accused of spying for Israel’s Mossad.
The judiciary said the defendants were arrested in March 2023 and had access to lawyers and contact with family during the proceedings.
In September, France withdrew its case against Iran at the International Court of Justice over the detention of Kohler and Paris.
The move followed a meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in New York and was seen as a possible gesture toward reviving prisoner-exchange talks.
“We have strong prospects of bringing them home in the coming weeks,” French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot said last week, without elaborating.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi suggested last month that Iran might free the French pair in exchange for Iranian national Mahdieh Esfandiari, who is due to face trial in January for promoting acts of terrorism.
Iran acquitted and freed dual German-French national Lennart Monterlos on charges of spying for Israel during a 12-day conflict in June. The 18-year-old had been bicycling in Iran at the time and has now been returned to France.
